running with scissors
augusten burroughs is one of my favorite authors. i first read running with scissors a few years ago. it's so fucked up to think about...it seems so much like fiction because his life as a child was so outrageous, it's hard to really take it all in. in the book you really have to concentrate and think about what he must have gone through as a kid because his writing style makes light of his life in a way that it doesn't make it seem as horrifying. so of course i wanted to see the movie, and i just got in on netflix. i can't say i thought it was good, because as with any book you love that's been made into a movie i had trouble getting past all that was added and not included. there were some powerful parts in the movie, but what struck me the most is the fact that having actors play this out for you creates feeling in this that differs greatly from what you get reading the book. i think they picked perfect actors for the different roles. it felt like some of the important elements of the book were missing from the movie, however it also feels like the movie tried to give the story a bit more emotion and vulnerability that i'm betting was more real for the people the movie portrayed, then how they are portrayed in the book. i don't know if that makes sense, but in the book you get a very limited sense of how sad augusten must have been to have had all these experiences, and in the movie he appears to be saddened by his life much more.
anyhoo...anyone else read the book and seen the movie? what did you think? or anyone see the movie who didn't read the book? how was it as a movie without the book clouding your judgment?